MANCHESTER: Lake District Adventure - Sightseeing Day Trip Tour

Badge of Excellence

Manchester, England

10 hours (approx.)
Mobile ticket
Offered in: English

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Overview

Getting to and around the Lake District from Manchester means relying on hiring cars or relying on public transport. Skip the effort with a full-day trip that makes things easy thanks to round-trip transport. Explore the region’s highlights and under-the-radar spots thanks to the local knowledge of your guide. In Bowness-on-Windermere, you have the option to take a cruise (own expense) across England's longest lake, then explore the pretty town of Ambleside, and visit Grasmere, known for delicious gingerbread.

Great-value package covers a lot of ground, including some unusual routes
Travel comfortably onboard a private minibus
Venture beyond Manchester without needing to plan a route
Ask your driver-guide for local tips and recommendations

What's Included

Pick up and drop off at Manchester Airport
Air conditioned vehicle
Full narration throughout the day
Transport between locations on a luxury minibus or coach
Digital diary uploaded to our Facebook page (optional)

Food and drink - you may bring your own lunch or purchase at a large choice of shops and cafes
Tickets for Windermere Lake Cruise (optional)
Gratuities

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

Manchester Airport
Manchester M90 3RR, UK
Your tour commences from Bay A, Ground Level of 'The Station' Transport Interchange Building, Manchester Airport. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to your tour departure time, so your driver is able to welcome you aboard. Your tour will depart at 09:15am PROMPT.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

Operating hours
.9:15 am

Itinerary

Bowness-on-Windermere

40 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Ambleside

1 hour • Admission Ticket Free

Little Langdale Valley (Pass By)

Blea Tarn

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Great Langdale (Pass By)

Grasmere

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Not wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Near public transportation
Infant seats available
Most travelers can participate
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 16 travelers

Supplied by

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

Traveler Photos

Gallery picture 1 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 2 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 3 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 4 (from a traveler's review)

Gallery picture 5 (from a traveler's review)

Featured review

Lucia_B

Very exciting experience! Wonderful places, the guide mr. Lee was very nice and kind. He drove very well along very strictly streets. Very beautiful the tales of Beatrix Potter heard during the travel ! Grasmere wonderful with Wordsworth's grave and house.

Reviews

4.5

based on 53 reviews

Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor

We perform checks on reviews

Beautiful day.

Andrew_F, Oct 2025

Great introduction to the Lake District. Easy pickup at the airport, and wonderful guide. Just enough free time to eat, shop and explore.

Response from Host, Nov 2025

Hello, Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review! We are thrilled to hear that you enjoyed your time onboard with us and we hope to welcome you onboard again soon! Best wishes, The Busy Bus team.

An incredibile experience in a magic place

Lucia_B, Apr 2025

Response from Host, Jun 2025

Thank you for your wonderful review! We're so glad you had an exciting experience exploring the Lake District and enjoyed the beautiful stories of Beatrix Potter along the way. Lee will be happy to hear your kind words about his driving. We hope to welcome you back soon for another adventure! Team BusyBus

Enjoyed the adventure!

Lindsay_W, Mar 2025

Lee did a great job and was a fun guide! Fantastic tour and beautiful sites! The boat ride was a great addition.

Response from Host, Mar 2025

Thank you! Yes, the boat trip on Windermere is a fab addition to our Lake District tour and I am thrilled that you enjoyed your tour with BusyBus :-)

Outstanding Tour and Guide

Patrick_E, Mar 2025

This was a full day of fun. Our guide, Lee, made the trip. Places we visited were beautiful, the guide was knowledgeable and an excellent driver.

Response from Host, Mar 2025

Thank you for your excellent review! Lee loves the Lake District and I am delighted that you thought it was beautiful plus you had fun too, perfect! Come back soon for our Yorkshire tour!

A tour worth booking!

Charlene_F, Dec 2024

Even though the weather was not ideal but Frankie, the person in charge of our tour made it all worthwhile with his lovely character and knowledge the place.

Response from Host, Dec 2024

Thank you for your lovely review! We are so glad you enjoyed your tour, despite the typical British weather! We we will pass your amazing feedback back to Frank! We hope to see you again in the future aboard BusyBus! - Team BusyBus

A gem of a tour

Kerry_R, Jun 2024

The driver Frank, excellent driver, well researched and time to sight see . Great activities along the way

Amazing Tour Experience

Alexander_G, May 2024

I always wanted to visit the LD without having to drive those tricky roads, this tour provided that experience. Our guide was brilliant. Funny, knowledgeable, welcoming and a skilled driver. And the mini bus was clean. I highly recommend!

Great introduction to the Lakes District

Julie_M, Oct 2023

We had a beautiful day for this tour, and it did not disappoint. Our driver, Lee, was an excellent tour guide and driver--which is very important as some of the roads were quite narrow and difficult to navigate! We thoroughly enjoyed the breathtaking beauty of the area and our stops in the lovely towns of Grasmere and Windermere. We only had one day to see the Lakes District, and this tour was exactly what we hoped it would be.

Response from Host, Oct 2023

What a lovely review....Thank YOU for joining us on the day. We hope to see you again some time soon!

Have a Backup Plan

gerald_d, May 2023

It was cancelled by operator day before trip. I did read other reviews about the same thing from this company so i wasn't surprised by what happened. We had a backup plan.

Response from Host, May 2023

When machines and people are the core of a business, anything can happen. This was one of those times. We did not want to cancel the tour but did not have a viable alternative available on a Bank Holiday Weekend where the majority of the country were gearing up for a Coronation. We can only apologise that you did not get the experience that you were expecting.

Wonderful memories

Adithya_S, Mar 2023

Had an amazing experience. The busybus was on time for pickup. Fortunately the entire bus was just for us. We were a group of 10 friends. The driver was very knowledgeable and friendly. Really would recommend to anyone. Worth booking it.

Response from Host, Mar 2023

We are so pleased that you had a great day out with BusyBus. We hope that you join us again for another adventure one day

Beware Cancellation

Abdiel_S, Oct 2022

Trip was canceled. Never received any communication regarding the trip status. Make sure to follow up the day before so you’re not disappointed the day of.

Response from Host, Oct 2022

Whilst it does not resolve the fact that your tour was cancelled, we would like to apologies. Looing further into this particular event, we have found that a number of notifications that were sent via Viator/Trip Advisor were not received. If you are in Manchester or Liverpool again, please contact us directly and we will see if we can sweeten this experience for you

Aggravating

BridgetteM, Oct 2022

We went all the way to the airport which was a 30 minute drive and 30 pound taxi ride and waited 45 minutes for a bus that never came because we were never notified that the tour was canceled.

Response from Host, Oct 2022

Not what you pay for

Maria_A, Jul 2022

The tour is ok tajming you to see one of Englands must beutiful landscapes but…demanding your customers to go all the way out to the airport and refusing to pick up your customers in Manchester is not ok. Not only for the extra cost and hassel it is to get out there but also because it is what we originaly already have paid for- that is a guided tour from Manchester -not Manchester airport. When I asked the tourcompany why they do this they blamed the trafic but the same company could esasily pick us up in Central liverpool a couple of days later for a different tour so this is pure laziness. So go with another operator for this tour where you get what you pay for and who puts you as a customer first-not the other way around

Response from Host, Jul 2022

The advertisement clearly states that we depart from Manchester Aiport's transport interface so you did get exactly the tour that you booked. It takes upwards of 45 minutes to travel into Manchester City Centre and a similar amount of time to get out again. That is up to 90 minutes that you would need to lose on location. To be honest with anyone reading this review, the fact that the guest wants to dictate the pickup location for a scheduled tour is in our view, NOT okay. If you want door to door, book a private tour! We also do run tours from Liverpool and collect from a spot right next to one of the main tunnels that crosses the Mersey. This means, for a Wales tour, you are out of the CIty in less than 5 minutes as opposed to 45 minutes which would be the equivelent in Manchester

A blast!

Aaron_S, Mar 2022

Other than the tour being moved up a day earlier than planned and it starting later than scheduled due to road closures the tour was perfect. Shelly was fun and knew loads about the Lake District, the sites, stores, and restaurants along the way. It was a blast. Thank you!

Response from Host, Mar 2022

We were so glad that you were able to join us on the Sunday and see the Lakes. Let's hope the rest of your stay in the UK lives up to expectations. Thank you for your positive review though, we hope that the late departure didn't have too much of an impact on the day. The closure of the Motorway that leads to the AIrport was beyond our control though :)

Tour did not happen, as...

Brian_J, Oct 2021

Tour did not happen, as it was cancelled and we were not informed. The operator did send us an email stating that it may be cancelled, but did not confirm cancellation. We only knew about the cancellation at the pick up time. I did try to report this on the Viator help page to avoid going public but it would not accept my email address.

Response from Host, Oct 2021

Thanks very much for your 1* review dished out to BusyBus when your gripe is with Viator who you booked with. Pretty unfair isn't it? We couldn't operate this tour due to Covid and protection of our clients. Can't win huh?

Highly recommended

Vetrivel_S, Jul 2021

The driver/guide was just outstanding. We were 5 people and she was very patient, funny, engaging and kind. Great experience overall.

Response from Host, Oct 2022

Apologies for the late response to this review, but THANK YOU.

Taste of the English countryside

davenlisahambly, Jan 2020

Fantastic price for a full day tour of seeing a fun selection of the English countryside. Rolling green hills w stone walls and herds of sheep. Lakes nestled between hills. Ring of stones smaller than Stonehenge, but no crowds and you can you up and touch them. Lottle towns you stop in for an hour or so to shop and/or eat. Very relaxed pace.